Liu Shenghan, an outstanding inheritor of Chinese folk lanterns (photo)

An ordinary peasant, from childhood to ancient times, has been fascinated by lanterns and drunk for lanterns; folk lanterns, a folk craftsmanship, also shined by his drunkenness and infatuation, which surprised the world. This peasant is the "outstanding inheritor of Chinese folk culture" - Liu Shenghan, an old man from Tiancun Town, Ji County.


Recently, the reporter came to Liu Shenghan's home. This is a common farmhouse, tile roof, earth wall, wooden window. Different from other farmhouses, there is a lantern skeleton hanging in the hall of his house, and a certificate of honor is attached to the wall.


Liu Shenghan is studying the blending of paints in the hall to consider how to achieve the best gloss. So, the topic naturally talked about the lantern.

The Lantern of the Lantern Festival

Tiancun County is a town in the south of the Yangtze River. It is known as the "hometown of lights and colors". There are a wide variety of lanterns, including 12 types of 25 types, including colorful lanterns, palace lanterns, and lanterns. There are also 24 kinds of production techniques. In addition to local customs and religious etiquette lights, such as weddings and funerals, the three-year Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival is the highlight. During the Lantern Festival, street residents covered the streets with white cloth or black cloth. Various lanterns were hung under the cloth. Every day, there were riddles, accompanied by performances such as cloud lights, stilts, Donghe opera, etc., attracting tens of thousands. Visitors from far and near come to watch. From the existing "Chen's Genealogy" in Tamura, the poems of the famous celebrities in the Song Dynasty were copied. "The knots are like lights, and the three years are hanging in the Mid-Autumn Festival. The songs are sung in the middle of the country, and there is a tiger in the south of the Yangtze River." Scenes.

Liu Shenghan was born in a family of lanterns. Since childhood, he has been a "stained", and has a strong interest. His grandfather was a famous local lantern artist and received more productions. Every time I make a lantern, basically the whole family goes into battle, and he just digs in the pile of adults. When he saw the adults cutting wooden strips and bamboo chips, cutting the paper into various shapes and painting them with various colors, they became a beautiful lantern. He was very surprised and became interested in the lantern. When he was five or six years old, he helped his grandfather to do some paper-cutting, sticky paste and other broken pieces. After a little bigger, Grandpa took him to run the hall, and often went to the Lantern Festival. In the lantern viewing field, his figure is always indispensable. While watching the excitement, he ponders the craftsmanship of other local artists. By the time he was 10 years old, he was involved in the production of lanterns for festivals, birthdays, weddings, etc. Later, he also worshipped Liu Lansheng, a high-profile dean of calligraphy and painting and lantern production, and devoted himself to learning various techniques for making lanterns. In order to get a deeper understanding of the folk custom of the lantern, when he was 16 years old, he went to the Tianhe Donghe Theater to study Donghe Opera. His role as a niche was well received by many artists. Later, he went to the peasant art class in Jiangxi Province to study and improve the level of painting. Through many years of painstaking study, the lanterns he produced, both the fineness of traditional craftsmanship, the artistic conception of painting art and the dynamics of stage dramas, became the famous "flower lanterns" in the local area.


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